14IRIN Duo-Perpetrators

Men who have been convicted of domestic violence and stalking attend “diversion” sessions at a prison in the United States as part of efforts to help them change their behaviour. Many perpetrators of domestic violence never serve time in jail or have their crimes exposed or reported. Image: Donna Ferrato/Network Photographers 4 perpetrators 1 r e “The ratio of male to female offenders for all types of crime has been narrowing steadily during the t p last few decades. But the fact remains that, today, about 80 percent of crimes against property are a committed by men, as are 95 percent of crimes involving violence.”1 By contrast, any reflection upon h C the level and nature of female crime is a salutary experience for men, who would be forced to conclude that if men behaved like women the courts and prisons would be virtually empty. The prevalence of male perpetration behaviours such as rape, child molestation and exhibitionism. … ” The overwhelming majority of violence against women and girls is Furthermore, and more relevantly, when females are involved in aberrant committed every day and in every nation by men. Where sexual violence or illegal sexual behaviour, coercion and violence is less commonly and exploitation takes place against men and/or boys, the perpetrators employed.3 are, again, overwhelmingly male. In categories where violence is embedded in tradition, such as child marriage, female genital mutilation Even though most acts of violence are committed by men — and studies and “honour” crimes, women may also play an active role. confirm that men have a higher propensity for violent behaviour than women — not all men behave violently. Are men genetically motivated, Despite the progress that has been made to introduce legal and social or hard-wired, in a significantly different way than women? Or does reforms to address gender inequality, violence against women and girls society teach the sexes to act the way they do? continues. Evidence suggests, in fact, that violations such as trafficking, 2 rape, child abuse, child prostitution and pornography are on the rise. The nature / nurture polarity The majority of studies of gender-based violence echo the findings of two psychologists whose research led them to conclude, “Most sexual Most researchers reject the notion that biology can be blamed for offenders are men. Men commit most of the aberrant and deviant sexual violent behaviour. Male violence, they say, is not genetically based but perpetrators 205 is instead perpetuated by a model of masculinity that permits and even violent characteristics.7 In patriarchal societies, a significant encourages men to be aggressive. “Men’s monopoly of violence stems manifestation of male aggression is man’s perpetration of sexual coercion from lifelong training in sexist models of masculinity.”4 Anthropological and violence against women. research shows that domestic violence is virtually nonexistent in some 5 societies, and therefore not an inevitable human condition. Popular perceptions Generally, the “nurture” position rejects the idea that men have a natural Irrespective of this debate, there is a virtually universal de facto propensity to violence or that men have “uncontrollable” violent and acceptance amongst people and communities worldwide that men and sexual urges. In the case of intimate-partner abuse, for example, women have different natures and different roles to play. Whatever the observers point out that men are able to control themselves in settings origin of male violence, most people are caught up in their societies and where the social or professional cost of their behaviour would be too the times they live, and are products of cultural influences. Women may high, but are unwilling to exercise the same restraint when they are internalise stereotypical models of male and female behaviour as much behind closed doors. as men and, as a result, may play a strong part in the maintenance of these stereotypes. Those advancing this perspective challenge apologists for male violence, who use biological arguments or the “psychopathological model” for In many countries, gender roles are deeply entrenched and reinforced male sexual violence to explain men’s behaviour. Instead, they insist that by cultural norms, to such an extent that questioning the status quo these men are not “sick” or pathological and are responsible for their involves risk.8 Even in countries that are seemingly less bound by actions, behaving reprehensibly, with free, conscious choice.6 tradition, where equal rights are codified in law and widely accepted, these stereotypes still dominate the popular mindset. The counterargument to this opinion — which is regularly reinforced and perpetuated via popular culture and religious dogma — claims that The United States and Australia are examples of industrialised countries men are captive to their libidos. This view maintains that the historic where sexual stereotyping and violence-supporting attitudes remain and global evidence of male’s natural aggression and the biological entrenched among the majority. High incidents of rape, domestic abuse and child abuse in these countries are Violence is also a learned behaviour that may be passed down the generations. thought to be linked to a general “The highest risk marker for a man to use violence against his wife and child is acceptance of these stereotypes. One study recently estimated that during a 12- early exposure to violence in his childhood home.” month period in the United States, more than 302,000 women and almost 93,000 imperative cannot be ignored. While socialisation may play an men experienced a completed or attempted rape.9 In a 1995 study in important role in how people behave in different societies and at Australia, 37 percent of the male participants disagreed with the different points in history, the “nature” position argues that sexual statement that “Women rarely make false claims of rape.” One in six violence is too widespread and too overwhelmingly perpetrated by respondents to the survey agreed that “Women who are raped often ask males to suggest that men and women are not motivated and driven by for it.”10 Rape is, of course, only an indirect indicator of such beliefs or different forces. These arguments appear to echo 19th-century pseudo- stereotypes. medical claims promoted by some scientists that men were a breed apart and slaves to uncontrollable testosterone, where male promiscuity is Psychological research demonstrates strong evidence that violence is a seen as a critical vestige of evolutionary forces conferring “selective learned behaviour that may be passed down the generations. “The advantage” on men who impregnate multiple partners. highest risk marker for a man to use violence against his wife and child is early exposure to violence in his childhood home.”11 A negative Other theorists, however, are situated between the two poles of “nature” finding when one considers the current number of boys witnessing their and “nurture”. They acknowledge a degree of “natural male inclination”, fathers’ violent behaviour, but also one that offers hope, perhaps, that which in combination with repeated negative socialisation reinforces nonviolence can be similarly learned. 206 perpetrators Belgian child killer and rapist Marc Dutroux throws himself to the ground while pretending to have a heart attack on the way to his first court appearance in October 2002. A doctor who was called to the scene proclaimed him fit for trial. Dutroux was arrested in August 1996 for the kidnapping and rape of six young girls and the murder of two of them. His highly publicised case and disturbing trial shook the Belgian establishment. Dutroux was given a life sentence. Image: Jorgen Hildebrandt/Panos Two brothers, aged 12 and 13, wash the ink off their hands after being fingerprinted by police in Cape Town, South Africa. The brothers and their 11-year-old friend were taken in by the Police Child Protection Unit after being identified as the sexual assailants of a three-year- old boy who lived near them. The boys allegedly forced the younger child to perform oral sex on them and then did the same to him. Image: Mariella Furrer A man is led away after being found guilty of stabbing his wife to death in a savage example of domestic violence in the United States. He stabbed her 17 times in front of their two children and other adult witnesses. Image: Donna Ferrato/Network Photographers Making man myths violence and what society can do about it. “As long as male behaviour is Cross-cultural studies reveal that in most communities simple taken to be the norm,” she writes, “there can be no serious questioning anatomical maleness is not enough to be a man. Real manhood lies of male traits and behaviour. A norm is by definition a standard of elsewhere and is often a “precarious or artificial state that boys must win judging; it is not itself subject to judgement.”16 against powerful odds.”12 Does this “masculine mystique” encourage toughness, dominance and extreme competitiveness at the expense of Violence and sexual abuse in marriage honest emotion, empathy and communication?13 In South Africa, researchers for the Medical Research Council estimated Violence against women is more predominant in cultures where the idea in 2004 that male partners kill their girlfriends or spouses at the rate of of manhood is linked to entitlement to power or male honour.14 one every six hours — the highest mortality rate for domestic violence Historically, wars have been intensely masculine endeavours and the ever recorded, they claim. According to a United Nations report that majority of all warriors, soldiers, generals, admirals, police, militias and same year, domestic violence accounted for more than 60 percent of prison wardens are and have been men. In addition, bureaucrats, murder cases in court in Harare, Zimbabwe. In Zambia, a recent study politicians and those who monopolise the systems of collective or found that nearly half the women surveyed had been beaten by a male institutional violence throughout the world are men.

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